Steel factory Tata Steel, the largest emitter of CO2 in the Netherlands, is investigating far-reaching adjustments to the sustainability plans. There is also a completely different way of making steel on the table, in which it would mainly melt down old scrap, resulting in less good quality steel. Trade union FNV, of which a large part of the Tata staff is a member, has reacted critically to this scenario.
In 2021, Tata Steel, part of the Indian group of the same name, announced that it wanted to switch to hydrogen-powered steel production in the coming years to make ‘green steel’. At the time, this approach was preferred to capturing CO2. Tata Steel has been working on this ‘hydrogen route’ for the past two years, but other methods have recently been put on the table.
Upon closer examination, Tata Steel has decided that a so-called ‘electric arc furnace‘ (EAF) is still under consideration. This is an installation that melts scrap into new steel. In addition, hardly any CO is added2 free and no hydrogen is needed. The major disadvantage is that the quality of the steel made is poorer. At the moment, Tata Steel is known in the steel world as a high-quality supplier.
Tata Steel is also expressly looking at a combination of the two options, for example an EAF installation in combination with a factory unit that makes new steel using hydrogen.
According to sources familiar with the situation within the company, the reconsideration has a mix of causes. For example, in the original hydrogen route the installations would also run on natural gas for a while, an energy source whose security of supply has become much less clear. The hydrogen plans also turned out to be very expensive in the end, while the company’s financial results have been under pressure recently. At the beginning of this year, the parent company announced that it was losing money.
Furthermore, an EAF installation is better in terms of circularity: you actually recycle old steel. According to Tata Steel, many responses have been received during the participation process asking for more circular routes.
‘Not acceptable’
The trade union FNV was originally one of the driving forces behind the plan to make steel with hydrogen. Driver Cihan Lacin therefore reacts critically to the option in which no hydrogen is used at all. “This is not acceptable to us.” According to Lacin, the question is whether the climate goals will be achieved with this route. He also rejects making less high-quality steel because, according to the union, this would lead to a loss of many jobs.
In a first response, environmental organization Greenpeace, one of Tata Steel’s biggest critics, said that it is a “good development” that the company is seriously considering a switch to circular steel. According to Greenpeace, this could mean that the most polluting parts of Tata Steel, the so-called coking plants, can be closed more quickly. A month ago, Greenpeace blocked this part of the factory site during a major campaign.
Also read this report about the Greenpeace action: Curious, the Tata employees watch in groups as the activists enter their factory
Tata Steel (approximately 9,000 employees, 7 percent of the Dutch CO2emissions) has been criticized for years because of the emission of harmful substances. That was one of the reasons for originally refraining from capturing CO2: with this greening method, the nuisance for the environment would persist for a long time. The company is investigating the consequences for the environment of the various options that are now on the table.